My magic 8-ball had a lot of feedback and false starts, but eventually I got:

Pettersson comes out of the gate like gangbusters, and the Canucks appear to be on pace for a 110 point season, when he is taken out by a cheap shot in December and unable to return for the rest of the season. The Canucks win ~ 20 more games in their remaining 50 or so, for a total of about 78 points total.

Two scoring lines for other teams to cover,
Juolevi much better & readier than expected,
Better goalie prep.
92-94 points in a sweat hog division,
maybe, just maybe.

- 2 scoring lines is possible. 1st line is pretty good with Baertcheesse-BoHo-Brockster. If Petterson can have a strong rookie year like Brockstar, be a scoring threat and help carry whoever is one the 2nd line. I'm thinking Petterson-Gagner-Virtanen (maybe Eriksson).
- Looks like we'll have 2 elite checking lines Granny-Sutter-Eriksson and Schaler-Beagle-Rousell. Greener luvs the matchup game. Now that he has the type of personnel he likes, it'll be interesting to see what he gets out of this team. If he can keep it close in the games, they may win a lot of 1 or 2 goals games to surprise a lot of ppl.
- I think there's no rush for Juolevi with his injury. If he has a so-so camp, just send him to the minors to get back into shape and learn the pro game. Call him up if he deserves it.
- I think Marky will be about the same, maybe a bit more consistent. I think Nielsson can be quite a bit better than last season, just as long as Greener doesn't go ape shit on him again. *LOL* Greener doesn't seem to like him though, so maybe they just go with Demko.
- The defence is probably our weakest. I'm willing to bet that we'll lose lots of man games to injuries from the backend again. Especially Tanev, we'll be lucky if he plays 60 games. It'll help alot of Hutty can regain that swagger and confidence he had in his rookie year and Guddy play like the player he was in Florida.
- If all things fall into place, we have an outside chance for a wild card spot. I'd personally rather tank another year as it's supposed to be a good one and the draft is in Vancity, but it's clear ownership and the hockey ops want to battle for a playoff spot. Like every season, lots of "IFS". Like most fans, just being optimistic with camp just around the corner. I've always been a glass is half full kind guy. *hehe*

My always accurate prediction: Injuries allow Dahlen to get called up early and he gets tried on a second line with Pettersson. They go on a tear! Wins start to pile up. They are second in division at the beginning of 2019 when they play Boston and Marchant takes out both kids, one with a slue foot and the other with a low bridge. The media freaks out! The kids are done for the year. The league suspenses Marchant for the rest of the season, but, on appeal, the punishment is reduced to a $500 fine. Benning goes to children’s hospital and begs the Sedins to come back and provide emergency help. They do! The Canucks end up with a 116 point season, the president’s trophy and the Stanley Cup. Henrik hands the cup to Daniel.

I am not as worried about injuries this year as past years.. for the first time in my memory, we have organizational depth, and this years depthnis better than Megna, Gaunce and Chaput of the last few years..

So long as Horvat and Boeser are healthy all year, we challenge for a playoff spot. Not saying we make it, saying we challenge for one.

Definitely happy to no longer see the likes of Megna and Chaput called up! Unfortunately Gaunce is still here though!

Agreed that we have organizational depth for the first time in awhile but still lacking the overall quality, specifically on defence. This is where I foresee us challenging for the basement if we lose both Tanev and Edler for an extended period of time. If we have just the usual string of injuries then I think we'll be middle of the road non-playoff team. But as long as we see improvement in some of the key young players I'll be happy.

A season or two away I say.
At least, or hopefully, we're in a process of climbing up and out of the cellar, so that's a process that can be appreciated for sure. I just hope that Green doesnt get caught up into the pursuit of wins via vets vs providing development time for up-an-comers. Unfortunately, i think he will.

I am not as worried about injuries this year as past years.. for the first time in my memory, we have organizational depth, and this years depthnis better than Megna, Gaunce and Chaput of the last few years..

So long as Horvat and Boeser are healthy all year, we challenge for a playoff spot. Not saying we make it, saying we challenge for one.

Definitely happy to no longer see the likes of Megna and Chaput called up! Unfortunately Gaunce is still here though!

Agreed that we have organizational depth for the first time in awhile but still lacking the overall quality, specifically on defence. This is where I foresee us challenging for the basement if we lose both Tanev and Edler for an extended period of time. If we have just the usual string of injuries then I think we'll be middle of the road non-playoff team. But as long as we see improvement in some of the key young players I'll be happy.

Gaudette, Gadovich, Lind, etc (all contracts that clear waivers) should keep Gaunce down where he belongs. We have enough centers on the team what we should never be forced to call him up. Once Gaunce clears in the rush of players sent down at the beginning of the year, he should never come up again. He will be buried in Utica... like with a shovel.

I agree that our defensive prospects are thin, but not as bad as implied. Actually, I think we disagree on the value of Tanev and Edler. First, ANY team that loses its top 2 defence for an extended period of time is going to suffer. I think we are slightly protected against that because our top 2 defencemen are really just not that good. The difference between Tanev and Edler being our top pairing and the likes of Goober and Stetcher (while frightening to fans) is not that much.. it's simply not that big a drop off in talent no matter who our top pairing would be after Edler and Tanev.

Last year when both were down, it was a "tire fire" (to quote another poster) as we had no forward support for the D as the forward group was lacking either speed to get back, or the talent and brain skills to play defence as a unit (if you recall, we didn't really suffer last year when both were hurt until Horvat went down at the same time). This year, we have a much more defensively responsible group of forwards (at least on paper) - and more of them. that should help out the D corps and hopefully hide a few flaws. And, while the top 7 D seems the same this year (unbelievably), the depth behind them is of higher quality should we be down 4 or 5 defencemen at the same time again.

I guess I am saying if we lose both we will still suck, but we disagree on the level of suckage

The 'Chain of Command' is the chain I am going to beat you with until you understand I am in charge.